Ride Profile: The Revolution

Six Flags Magic Mountain has in its collection of thrill rides one of the most famous and historic roller coasters in the world – The Revolution. Conceived by a German named Anton Schwarzkopf, one of the most respected and well-known roller coaster designers to have ever lived, The Revolution was the world’s very first modern roller coaster (made out of tubular steel track) to have a 360° vertical loop.

In 1955, Anton Schwarzkopf visited an Amusement Exposition not far from his home and thought he could build a better merry-go-round. After several years of graduating up to more complicated rides, he designed and built the very first roller coaster made completely out of steel in 1964. In 1973, he began working on perfecting the vertical loop. Although other roller coasters had built vertical loops as early as the late 19th century, they were poorly designed and pulled up to 12 Gs of force, causing many injuries and even deaths until they eventually stopped trying. Schwarzkopf finally perfected the loop in 1975 by using a teardrop-shape instead of a perfect circle, which slowed the train down enough to be safe while still allowing enough momentum to complete a loop.

Once he perfected the vertical loop, no time was wasted in putting it into one of his roller coaster designs and building it in a park. As you can see in the poster above, construction began on The Great American Revolution at Magic Mountain in 1975. Although designed by Schwarzkopf, it was actually built by the Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Intamin AG, who did all of Schwarzkopf’s work outside of Germany. At a then staggering cost of $2,000,000, The Great American Revolution opened for business on 8 May 1976.

Because the ride was opened during the 200th anniversary, it was named after the American Revolutionary War of 1776, honoring that very pivotal moment in American history. The ride operators even wore Continental Army uniforms to compliment the theme. The ride was custom built for the location, utilizing some of the hilly terrain that Magic Mountain is well known for. It is 113′ high, has an 80′ first drop, and features 3,457′ of track, which was a record for its time. Of course, it’s most famous for its loop, which is 90′ tall and 45′ in diameter. It started with five trains, each comprised of five cars. Each car has a 2×2 seating configuration, for a total of 20 passengers per dispatch. The theoretical capacity of the ride is 1400/riders per hour at maximum efficiency. The train reaches a maximum speed of 55 MPH, pulls up to 4.2 Gs of force, and the entire ride lasts 2:12 minutes from start to finish.

The ride was called The Great American Revolution from the time it opened in 1976 until 1981. It was then changed to La Revolución and the theme was changed to that of the Mexican Revolution to coincide with a new themed area called Baja Ridge. In 1988, the name was changed again to The Revolution and it hasn’t changed since.

The Revolution is located in the Baja Ridge section of the park, right behind the Grand Carousel, to the left of the Six Flags Plaza. This is what the entrance looks like today:

The Flash Pass/Single Rider entrance is just to the right of the main ride entrance. What many people don’t realize is that this is also a shortcut to get up the hill to Roaring Rapids and Tatsu, without having to take the path all the way around by Viper:

It’s a well shaded path that leads along the back side of the ride:

You will eventually come to a fork in the path. The single rider line is to the left, which is also the ride’s exit. You must go to the right and loop under the lift hill to get to the Flash Pass entrance. If you continue up the stairs you see to the right, you will find yourself along the main path, between Viper and Rapids Camp Crossing:

The left path leads up to the backside of the loading station. The single rider line forms on the left and the people exiting the ride come through the turnstile on the right:

If you follow the path on the right and loop under the lift hill, you will see the Flash Pass entrance. It enters the loading station right where the train is loaded:

Going back to the main ride entrance, you will see a rock formation under the bridge along the queue path where a waterfall once was. I have no idea how long it’s been since the waterfall was last used, but I bet it was really pretty when it was in operation. I bet it also helped cool the entire area on the hot summer days. It’s rather ugly right now:

Looking back down on the queue path from the bridge, you can see where the water would have flowed under the path and down the hillside:

Don’t forget to read the warning sign:

The queue path curves up the hill before cutting back towards the loading station:

There is a barricade where the path starts to cut back towards the loading station. I will provide more detail about what this was below:

The loading station is pretty standard. There are 10 lanes from which two riders will board each train. The ride operators station is located at the front of the train on the opposite side, next to the exit and single ride line. The open doorway on the left is the Flash Pass entrance we saw earlier:

The red signs you see say to remove all ear jewelry and hearing aids. Do not ignore this warning. This ride can severely bounce your head back and forth inside the over-the-shoulder-restraint (OTSR), giving your ears a nice beating. The best way to prevent this is to keep your head back, tight against the headrest. That will minimize head movement:

This ride did not originally have OTSRs. It only had lap bars, which were more than sufficient to secure you in your seat during the ride, even through the loop. Six Flags added the OTSRs to the ride in 1993, but nobody knows for sure why they did this. The most logical reason is for insurance purposes, even though similar rides from the same manufacturer don’t require OTSRs. Having OTSRs may help them get lower insurance premiums on inverting rides, but other Six Flags parks have inverting rides that don’t have OTSRs, so it may also have something to do with California law. Whatever the reason, just about everyone would like to see the OTSRs removed from this ride:

The ride exits the station and heads straight up the 113′ tall, chain-driven lift hill. This coaster was the world’s tallest for its first two years of operation:

Since this ride has been around for over 36 years now, much of it is no longer visible due to the mature trees and vegetation that has grown up around it. I think this next photo was taken somewhere between 1982-1984. You can clearly see the lift hill going up, then the banking drop to the right and back up into another hill:

There was obviously no Viper in the above photo, and there is a BMX track where X2 sits today. You can clearly see what is called X2 Plaza today, the round circle with eight round planters inside it. The blue circle to the right of that was a Tilt-a-Whirl called Baile de las Flores. That’s where the Panda Express/eating area sits today.

This next photo is pretty much the same shot, just taken 30 years later. As you can see, the trees have really grown up, masking much of the ride. You can still make out the X2 Plaza, with a bridge now heading off towards X2. You can also make out the area just to the right of the plaza where the Tilt-a-Whirl once sat:

After the first hill coming off of the first drop, the track drops down and right back up onto another hill. Here is the train approaching the top of that second hill:

Another shot of the train rounding that second hill:

As the train rounds the top of that second hill, it dives down and starts banking to the left. You can see the track coming in from the right side of this next photo, diving underneath itself to the left, and then angling back up as it curves to the left. Hidden behind the trees is a brake run at the top of that single helix, setting the train up for a long, straight shot at the loop. Check out how long that straightaway is:

It’s hard to tell from the above photo, but the diving curve that the track makes coming off that second hill is quite substantial, as seen here:

Of course, it has to be in order to make it back up for the next element:

This train is approaching a set of brakes, just before the long straightaway into the loop:

It’s virtually impossible to see while you’re not on the ride, but this is the brake run that sets the train up for its long, straight shot right into the loop:

After what seems forever building up speed, the train finally enters the world’s very first vertical loop on a modern roller coaster:

The Revolution has been affectionately dubbed The One Loop Wonder:

Depending on where you’re at, the loop may be the only part of the ride you see:

After the loop, the track makes a wide, sweeping left turn through the trees above Valencia Falls in the Six Flags Plaza:

From above, you can see the track veer off to the left just after the loop. It curves around and is the track you see in the very lower-left of this next photo:

Once the left turn is complete, the track starts to bank to the right:

The righthand turn leads into a 144′ long tunnel that starts far beneath the final brake run of Tatsu. The tunnel continues turning to the right and you can see where the track emerges again and passes underneath itself at the top of this photo:

This is the same photo from above, but it clearly shows the train now passing through the center of the loop:

After passing though the loop, the track starts to curve to the right:

The train then heads for one final 360° helix before heading back to the station:

The train dives and banks to the left one final time, right next to the Grand Carousel:

After the helix, it straightens out and heads towards the final brake run at the station:

The Revolution has 92′ of brown storage track, which was also a record at the time of its construction. With a total of five trains, it needed lots of room to store everything. You can just see the active train returning to the station on the active white track:

Question: Does anyone know what that device is on the track behind the inactive train? It looks like it has a giant vacuum cleaner handle on it.

Once you exit the ride through the turnstile (shown earlier), you can either head back towards the front of the park using the exit path that goes down, or you can climb the stairs and go up, exiting on the main path between Viper and Rapids Camp Crossing:

This next photo was likely taken around 1990, after the entrance had been moved back to the bottom of the hill. Compare this photo to the photo of the entrance today and you’ll notice that the bridge has been modified. The stucco wall has been cut down to just above the name and replaced with wood slats. Since stucco gets so hot, I’m thinking that was probably to cut down on the heat and let the wind blow through. It’s also really hard to see in this smaller picture, but the waterfall does have water in it and is operational:

Here is a press photo from the park from when the ride first opened, taken from the rear of the train as it was at the apex of the loop:

Six Flags Magic Mountain Press Photo

A postcard from not long after the ride opened shows at least three trains on the track, something that probably hasn’t happened in quite some time. It’s also amazing to see how much this ride dominated the Magic Mountain skyline:

Because of the historical significance of this ride, the American Coaster Enthusiasts designated it a landmark roller coaster in 2002 and a special plaque was erected to commemorate the occasion:

As mentioned in the plaque above, The Revolution has played a prominent role in pop culture. It was the key element in the 1977 motion picture Rollercoaster. It also appeared as the Whipper Snapper at Wally World in the 1983 Chevy Chase comedy National Lampoon’s Vacation.

Early on in this profile, I said I would provide more detail on the barricade that is in the queue path leading up to the ride. In 1981, when the name of the ride was changed to La Revolución, it was part of a brand new area being created called Baja Ridge. The park had just built a new path that completed a full circuit around the park, but there was a stretch of the path that didn’t have much on it. They added the previously mentioned Tilt-a-Whirl with a Spanish name, and they moved the entrance to the newly named La Revolución up to the new plaza, which was officially called Plaza de la Revolución. I think this was an attempt to spread the volume of people around more evenly. If you look up the hillside as you’re walking towards Viper or X2 today, you will see this:

This was part of the new queue that was built for the ride further up the hill:

In order to get to the new entrance, you needed to walk up the newly built path, which was dubbed Calle de la Revolución, or Revolution Street:

What is referred to as the X2 Plaza today was originally the Plaza de la Revolución. The archway you see was the entrance to the queue area for the ride. This may also look familiar if you saw the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation with Chevy Chase:

There’s not much up here today, other than a nice place to catch some shade and take a breather. There is also a smoking area here, so don’t breath too deep:

Once you made your way through the new queue area, the line exited here and joined up to the existing path to the loading station:

In 1990, the Viper roller coaster was opened in the Baja Ridge area and the volume of people was absolutely crazy. In order to help distribute some of the congestion, the entrance to The Revolution was moved back down the hill to its original location. I don’t believe the Mission-looking queue has been used since, hence the barricade:

You will pass this little gate on the path to the loading station. I have no idea what it was used for. If you look over the wall, it doesn’t lead anywhere other than into the dirt. If anyone knows what this was, please let me know:

It’s my personal belief that it was this roller coaster that really set the course for Magic Mountain to ultimately become the Thrill Capital of the World. After setting a couple of world records with this coaster, the bar had been set and most of the roller coasters that followed also set world records. It didn’t take very long for people to realize that this was the place to go for the best thrills available. I realize that not every roller coaster can last forever, but I do hope that Six Flags Magic Mountain realizes the historical significance of this once and does their best to preserve it for as long as they can.

49 Comments

Josh

08/13/2012 at 3:07 pm

I’ve always thought they should just remove the old Revolution queue and open up that whole area with a new flat or something, while backing up X2’s signage to the end of the bridge. But I think they used the Revolution queue for a fright fest maze last year.

The old queue building near Viper was used as a Fright Fest maze last year, I think it was called Chupacabra. And just throwing a guess on that gadget that sits behind the stored train, the one with the vacuum cleaner handle, I think it might be used to make sure the tracks are aligned? Of course they have technology for that now, but maybe it was used for that before? Anyway great profile as usual, I learned a lot about the Revolution, not something I would see my self saying!

This may be your best ride review yet, Kurt! And I even learned a few things about Revolution that I never knew (and I rode it in May 1976, too!). After all these years, I never noticed the stucco removed from the bridge and replaced with the wooden railing. I couldn’t even tell you when they did that.

One of things I’ve always liked about Revolution is how the loop isn’t right at the bottom of the first drop as it is on some other looping rides. You have three big drops leading up to it, and then that long sloping straightaway (which I think is the perfect approach to the loop).

At one point, the track length was listed as 3657′ rather than the 3457′ that they use now. I’ve always thought that maybe they included the storage track in the figure because to me it always appeared to be about 200 feet of track, but your figure of 92 feet sounds reasonable as well. A similar thing with Colossus—the track length for each track was originally listed at 4601, but is now 4325. They’ve reprofiled Colossus a few times, but not enough to lose nearly 300 feet. I’ve wondered, too, if the storage track was included.

Anyway, that Tilt-a-Whirl that started off next to Revolution was originally called “Baile de las Flores,” or “Dance of the Flowers” in English. That ride, of course, was moved over to replace the Octopus ride known as Jolly Monster (with the same name), then over to replace the old Circus Wheel (and also kept that name).

One thing that never seems to be mentioned is the fact that Revolution actually had a different OTSR type before the awful ones it has now. Around 1990, they put in some seats with a weird angle that had you sitting in a very awkward position. It was hard to get up from those seats when the train returned to the station. I believe that was intended to make it difficult to stand up, as some people were trying to do in the loop. Not long afterward, they installed a fabric shoulder belt to each seat, almost identical to the ones you find in your car. Those were used in conjunction with the lap bars, and as I recall, attached to the lap bar itself once you pulled it down. Those belts only lasted a year or so before the current OTSRs were added. There’s no question that Revolution and similar rides are perfectly safe with only a lap bar, but as I mentioned, I think Magic Mountain’s intention was to try and prevent people from standing up.

Thanks, Eric! I’ve never heard about the angled seats or seat belts, nor did I come across anything about it in my research. However, I’d love to learn more about them if anyone has additional details. Pictures would be great as well. BTW, any idea what that thing is on the storage track?

I remember those weird angle seats. It was like sitting in a folding chair that had partially collapsed. I, for the first time, noticed the change in the station with the stucco bridge.

I rode it two weeks after it opened. I remember seeing the whole Revolution spread over the dirt mountain sparsely landscaped with saplings …that’s exactly what I remember it looking like when we pulled in the lot. I was IN AWE. I looked like a total nerd then and a few bully boys were expecting me to spout out mathematical equations for the loop. I can’t even pass pre-algebra. lol.

And another thing: Revolution was originally designed to use five trains, and it was amazing how fast the line moved when they were all running. You never really “stood” in line, as you were always taking a step or two. Originally, two trains could be in the station at the same time. The current load/unload position was run pretty much as it is now. That chain that moves the train from the station to the lift was originally long enough to have two trains attached to it. While the train in front was loading, a second train would roll in and catch the train. As the chain moved the first train onto the lift, the second train moved right into load/unload position. Because of the simple lap bar only system, a train was dispatched about the time that the train ahead of it reached the bottom of the drop right next to the station (the second drop of the ride). So you’d have two trains in the station, one the track between the lift and the loop, another somewhere between the top of the long sloping drop and the tunnel, and one rounding the last spiral. It was an amazing operation, the likes of which we’ll never see at Magic Mountain ever again.

The last few times I’ve been there, they were only running two trains. You can see the two different trains in the pictures. There is a third train on the storage track, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen three trains running simultaneously. To be fair, I’ve never seen a line long enough to warrant three trains. Maybe they swap it in as they remove one for servicing.

After the accident in 1996 where a worker was killed when she crossed the track and slipped in front of a moving train in the station, they shortened the chain in the station to only be able to move one train at a time. That was a preventative measure to assure that such an accident would not happen again.

Revolution is such a great ride without the OTSRs, but I don’t ever see them coming off. As I said above, I believe that OTSRs were installed more to prevent standing than to assure rider safety. No one has ever actually told me that, but it makes sense. Somewhere out there, a picture is circulating where some riders were standing or close to standing.

Before the OTSRs were installed, the height limit was 42″, which meant that smaller kids could ride. This was the perfect coaster for smaller kids to “get their feet wet” for the bigger thrills.

She had a habit of jumping across the station track instead of waiting for a train to cross properly. She received a verbal, then a written with a DML meaning 1 more anything and she would be terminated. The rest is history. The details were never reported, but quite bad.

What an awesome profile Kurt. So much rich history Magic Mountain has. But I would definitely love it if they would bring back the waterfall that simply made the lanscape look so much nicer. Second, remove those god awful OTSR’s. I still remember when I used to ride it as a kid with just the lap bars, I would love it putting my hands up during the loop. It was amazing. And third, maybe cutting down a few trees. Or at least trimming down the the landscape. Revolution is getting lost in between all that bush and it would be a shame to let it go unnoticed.
By the way, anybody remember “Condor?”

The Huss Condor wasn’t there very long. They installed it in 1988, where Viper sits today. They removed it after the 1989 season to make room for Viper. It was sent to Six Flags Great America where it was opened in 1991 and it’s still there today.

It was originally called Merlin’s Magic Mouse and it opened in 1985 with Bugs Bunny World. Around 1992/93, they moved it over to Baja Ridge, about where the Panda Express is today and renamed it to Speedy Gonzales Mouse Racers. I haven’t figured out when it was removed from there yet. One of the cars was up in the Sky Tower before they removed all the museum pieces.

When I was a kid, we would go to MM for my birthday each year. For my 10th b-day (1975 ) I remember being in the sky tower with my friends looking down at a partially built white steel hill that was the biggest thing we had ever seen, which we later found out would become the Revolution. Well many many years later, I am still riding the rails. I just got back from the east coast on a family vacation after hitting 4 of the Cedar Park properties. I had the same feeling in my stomach as I was going up the lift hill on Intimidator 305, with my coaster addicted children, as I did that day when I saw Revolution being born so many years ago.

The reason they keep the shoulder restraints on the ride still doesn’t make sense to me. I understand they are trying to prevent people from standing up, but they still aren’t necessary. I have ridden Montezooma’s Revenge at Knott’s Berry Farm a countless amount of times and no matter how hard I try, I can’t stand up.

It can’t be a Six Flags law because there is Mindbender at Six Flags Over Georgia and Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas. It can’t be a California law because there is Montezooma’s Revenge at Knott’s Berry Farm. They were all manufactured by Schwarzkopf. If they could incorporate lap bars in to Revolution, maybe my sister will finally ride a looping coaster.

I remember this ride well! My first visit to the park was the summer of ’75 when i was 12 and i went there with my Dad. They had a model on display over towards the area you would get on Eagles flight of their upcoming rollercoaster “The Great American Revolution” the model really didnt look anything like the finished product but it got me excited to return the following summer to go on the worlds first vertical looping coaster. And on July 4, 1976, i was there for the unvailing…i was so excited as we came down Magic Mountain Parkway and all of a sudden the coaster was in view…it looked gigantic. Of course have the population of California was there as well, along with Hollywood filming crews that were filming scenes for the movie “Rollercoaster”. Of course the line to go on it was and still is probably the longest line i have ever seen for a ride, and ive been on em all. My father, was a rather impatient man when it came to lines etc. (so am i), so to solve the 4+ hour wait problem, he and i walked up to the closest we could get to the loading station and to my amazement offered 2 people in line $200 each for there spots in line, which they quickly snatched up! (that was a huge amount of money for that back then considering the park admission pass was around 5 or 6 bucks!) It was great, because we went on it and it was better then had imagined…smooth, fun, exciting….and my father even put his arms up in the air……which is the only time he EVER did that, he thinks it looks really stupid and i gotta agree..but it was funny to see. Anyways….all the other rides were ours for rest of the day since there werent long lines on any of them, since everyone wanted to ride Revolution. That day is one of my favorite childhood memories.

When I went to magic mountain for the first time, I was looking forward to riding revolution, but it was closed(
was sad). I always check the website regularly, and it’s still closed. It makes me wonder if they are remodeling it. Are they

My college roommate and I worked at Magic Mountain at ticket sales at the front gate. Sometimes we got to test the Revolution before we started our shift. It was always a hit at employee parties when we got the whole park to ourselves. It was great to see all your pictures of then and now. I still have my Magic Mountain nametag with a troll on it! We used to have roving trolls wandering the park. Not sure why they were part of the theme.

I love the notes on how the queue has changed over time…it’s one of my favorite aspects of all the rides at the park. With that in mind I have a couple small notes to add..

– The station building originally had switchbacks in the small open area to the right of the bridge (in the little tower area). I remember them as late as 2001.

– Revolution in the mid 90’s was popular enough to use an extended queue that went all the way down and back up the hill toward Viper. I even remember one night them handing us those boarding pass tickets to reduce line cutting.

In it’s heyday, in my opinion, it was just the PERFECT roller coaster. I always loved that beautiful white track, and the layout, too, has always fascinated me. And to me, it just ISN’T THE SAME with all the trees grown up around it, and that orange Tatsu track hovering around!